Graphic organizer Grade 6 Careers & CTE
A Shift at Cresswater: An Operator's Tasks and Skills
A grade 6 careers organizer mapping one treatment operator's shift to the skills each task uses, where those skills are learned, and who depends on the work.
Objectives
- Students will match each task in an operator's shift to the skill or knowledge it uses.
- Students will identify where each of those skills is learned, in school or on the job.
- Students will explain who is affected when a scheduled plant task is skipped.
Vocabulary
- Turbidity
- Turbidity is a measure of how cloudy or murky water looks because of tiny particles floating in it. Clear water has low turbidity, and muddy water has high turbidity.
- Chlorine residual
- Chlorine residual is the small amount of chlorine still left in the water after it leaves the treatment plant. It keeps protecting the water from germs all the way to your faucet.
- Backwash
- Backwash is when a treatment plant reverses the flow of water through a filter to flush out the dirt and particles it has trapped. It is like rinsing out a dirty sponge so the filter can keep working well.
Also: shift log, operator license
Teacher overview
This organizer is a five-column shift table. Each row holds one task from a day shift at the fictional Cresswater water treatment plant, and students fill in the skill the task uses, where a person learns that skill, and who is affected if the task is skipped. The teaching note worth raising first concerns a common misconception. Many students picture a treatment plant as a machine that runs itself and imagine the operator sitting idle until something breaks. Most of a shift is scheduled work instead, made up of tests, adjustments, and written records that keep problems from starting, which is also why the state licenses operators by exam.
Organizer
Fill in the three empty columns for each row. The first two columns are already filled from the fictional Cresswater shift log.
| Time | What the operator does | Skill or knowledge it uses | Where that skill is learned | Who is affected if it is skipped |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6:00 a.m. | Reads the night operator's log and walks the whole plant | |||
| 7:30 a.m. | Tests the finished water for turbidity and chlorine residual | |||
| 9:00 a.m. | Backwashes a filter that has been running since yesterday | |||
| 11:00 a.m. | Counts the chemical stock and places an order for delivery | |||
| 1:00 p.m. | Collects samples, labels them, and fills out the lab sheet | |||
| 3:00 p.m. | Writes the shift report and briefs the evening operator |
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Completed Exemplar
| Time | What the operator does | Skill or knowledge it uses | Where that skill is learned | Who is affected if it is skipped |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6:00 a.m. | Reads the night operator's log and walks the whole plant | Reading a written record closely and noticing what changed overnight | Reading class, plus on-the-job training with a senior operator | Every customer, because a problem the night operator noted goes unfixed |
| 7:30 a.m. | Tests the finished water for turbidity and chlorine residual | Running a bench meter and comparing a reading to a legal limit or plant target, such as 0.3 NTU for turbidity or the usual chlorine residual range of about 0.2 to 2.0 mg/L | State operator certification course and plant training | Every household on the system, since cloudy or under-chlorinated water reaches homes |
| 9:00 a.m. | Backwashes a filter that has been running since yesterday | Following a written procedure in order and watching flow and pressure while it runs | On-the-job training, then confirmed on the state license exam | Customers downstream, because a clogged filter lets particles pass into the clearwell |
| 11:00 a.m. | Counts the chemical stock and places an order for delivery | Arithmetic with tank levels, use per day, and delivery lead time | Math class, plus plant purchasing procedures learned on the job | The plant itself and the whole town, because treatment stops when a chemical runs out |
| 1:00 p.m. | Collects samples, labels them, and fills out the lab sheet | Following a sampling plan exactly and labeling without error | State training on sampling, plus laboratory practice at a community college | The state regulator and the customers, since an unlabeled sample cannot be reported |
| 3:00 p.m. | Writes the shift report and briefs the evening operator | Clear, ordered writing and speaking to a coworker about what matters | Writing class, plus years of practice on shift | The evening operator, who would start the shift without knowing what changed |
Differentiation
Support
Give these students a word bank for the third and fourth columns holding the terms used in the fictional Cresswater exemplar, such as "reading a record," "arithmetic," "state license course," and "on-the-job training." Pre-fill the 6:00 a.m. row as a model and ask for the remaining five.
Extension
Ask students to add a seventh row for a task the fictional Cresswater shift log does not include, such as responding to a customer call about discolored water, and to complete all five columns for it. Students then explain in two sentences why that task is harder to schedule than the others.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "turbidity," "residual," "backwash," and "shift" with a photograph or simple drawing and a one-sentence meaning for each. Allow the last three columns to be completed with short phrases rather than sentences, and let students talk through one row with a partner before writing.
Extensions
Have students interview an adult about one workday and build the same five-column table for that job, then compare it with the fictional Cresswater table and write two sentences about what the two jobs share. Students can also mark which rows of the operator table would still need a person if the plant added more automatic controls.